Steve,
I once took a gamble buying a horribly running TR-3A from a guy who hadn't
had it long and claimed it ran great when he bought it. I found out I was
right when I got it home and found the dash pots on the SU's dry as a bone.
Apparently the Triumph owner had never been told that SU dash pots had to be
kept full of oil.
A.C. Tynes
New Orleans
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tigers-bounces@autox.team.net
> [mailto:tigers-bounces@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Steve Laifman
> Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2008 1:52 PM
> To: Tiger's Den
> Subject: [Tigers] "Speaking of S.U.'s - "
>
> Tigers,
>
> Some personal reminiscing, that may (or may not) be of interest.
>
> There has been some chatter about the S.U. fuel pump. I have
> lived with them for longer than I can remember ( a common
> malady), and thought some real-life experiences may ring a
> chime with the LBC owners.
>
> My first exposure to the S.U. came with my early new 1952
> MG-TD. The car had both the carburetors and the fuel pump
> made by S.U. I learned that "S.U." stood for "Skinners
> Union"since the 1905! NOTE: The "Skinner" was NOT an
> occupation, but the patent and company owner, George Herbert Skinner.
>
> The S.U. carburettors were "sidedraught" with a vacuum
> operated piston.
> Similar to the 50's Zenith Stromberg's that used rubber. The
> "jet" was an orifice that was metered by a tapered needle rod
> which opened the jet by a vacuum operated diaphragm or the
> later large piston. Good mixture control, but NO accelerator
> pump for instant enrichment.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SU_carburetor
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenith_Carburetters
>
> The fuel pumps were also diaphragm device with electrical
> points. These do get dirty, and worn from arcing. The
> recommended procedure was to regularly clean the points with
> a "business card".
>
> The MG pump was under the bonnet, the Jaguar pump was under
> the passenger floorboard, with access through a snap plate in
> the floor.
>
> The carbs were pretty good on both the cars, less the
> accelerator pump.
> The fuel pump, such as on our Tigers, was a little more
> ornery. One fine day I was tooling north on the 405 freeway
> and the tell-tale sign of a failed fuel pump was a slowing
> down of the car. Well, at 60+ mph, in the fast lane, things
> happen quickly. I pulled to a stop into the median, jumped
> out of the car, ran to the traffic side of the car, flipped
> open the hood, and hit the thing with a bumper shoot! It
> started, and I got back into traffic from a dead stop.
>
> In the Jag, I did much the same thing, but on the street.
> And, I did not have to get out of the car.
>
> Of course many British vehicles used SU components, including
> this very fast machine:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Spitfire_variants:_sp
> ecifications,_performance_and_armament
>
> Steve
> --
> ___
> Steve Laifman
> Editor - TigersUnited.com
> <http://www.TigersUnited.com>
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